LitPick Review
Beyond the Shadows of Summer a novel by Jonathan Zemsky,
is a story told by protagonist James Sayer, of his quaint
Midwest town, in America during the 1950's. A year before
the summer of '55 James loses his younger brother, Brand,
to a rare blood disease. This death emotionally tears the
Sayer family apart and creates a distance between James
and many of his closest friends. It also restrains James
from doing the things that he loves; drawing and baseball.
Beyond the Shadows of Summer is a coming of age novel, set
for most of the story in a showground, in which the main
character must learn to appreciate the difficulties of
growing up in a racist society, the importance of friends
both young and old and the extraordinary emotions that
first love can bring. During the summer of '55, when James
has only experienced 14 short years of life, he is able to
discover what is really important to him. While defeating
a bully, standing up for what he believes in and accepting
new friends, James is able to retrieve his life back. Once
James gains the perspective and the strength to accept his
brothers death, he is capable of properly treasuring and
celebrating Brands life, by journeying through his own
and repairing all that was broken.
Opinion:
After reading
Beyond the Shadows of Summer I was quite pleased and
impressed. Overall I really liked the book. I liked the
depth of the plot and the entwined character
relationships. I enjoyed the style of the writing as well
as the intelligent and thorough description that the
protagonist uses in speech and thought. I did think
however, that this was slightly advanced vocabulary and
sentence structure for 14 year old boys, even in the
1950s. I found this book slightly slow to start as I
struggled to find a way to relate to the characters and
their situation. But as I read on I became enthralled with
the story line and found myself turning pages quickly to
uncover the resolutions. I think that the author was able
to evoke substantial emotion through his writing of
especially scenes where James reflects on his brother's
death. I found myself at times comparing aspects of this
book to Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a
Mockingbird , I believe this would be due to the time both
novels are set and the leading black male influences on
the main characters. I liked the way that the show ground
setting for this book was so much fun and so easily
visualized. Zemsky made it easy for the reader to feel as
if they were in the very same place as the characters. By
large this was a book I really enjoyed. At times I felt
that it was more inclined to males and for that reason I
would recommend it to teenage boys from age 13, whom would
relate and understand the more masculine emotions
expressed by the characters. That said ,this was a very
worthwhile read whose story truly intrigued me. I will
look forward to any more of Zemsky's insightful and
captivating work.
